Free The Millionaire's Secret Wish by Leanne Banks Page B

presence, Alisa hadn’t felt deprived exceptfor wanting sisters and brothers. As a child she’d sought a brotherly connection with the boys at the home. By the time her mother remarried, bearing more children was out of the question.
    A breeze wafted over her face, stirring the heat of the sunny August day. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a cat jump onto the porch and settle into the shade. The sight of the tabby brought back yet another memory. Despite her mother’s better judgment she’d allowed Alisa to keep a stray. As long as that cat stays outside! Alisa smiled. She could still hear her mother’s voice in her mind. Most of the time Alisa had complied. She’d only sneaked the cat inside on bitter nights, and Alisa was certain her mother had known. She’d merely turned her head.
    Every time Dylan came around, he’d complained about the cat, but he’d always rubbed the tabby and made her purr. He’d complained because, in his opinion, the cat should have been a dog. When he grew up, he was going to have a golden retriever that would be the best, smartest dog in the world. Even now she could feel the longing in his voice. He’d wanted a dog so badly he could taste it.
    Alisa thought of Dylan’s beautiful, dogless home. She wondered what had happened to his dream of having a golden retriever. She wondered if that was one more loss suffered on his road to becoming a man. She wondered if he was unwilling to open his heart to the dog he’d wanted as a child.
     
    Dylan glanced down his long driveway for the tenth time in as many minutes and began to sweat.
    He knew Alisa should be fine driving, but he also knew she hadn’t been behind the wheel in months and she was driving in downtown St. Albans during rush hour.
    He couldn’t help remembering how he’d felt when he’d first received the call that she’d been in an accident. He’d felt as if his blood had drained completely from his body. His chest tightened and he sucked in a deep breath. If anything happened to her…
    If they stuck to the deal they’d made, she would be leaving in three days. Dylan felt ambivalent at the prospect. As each day passed, he found it harder and harder not to take what she had offered, not to touch her, not to fill himself with her. She was the one woman, the one person, who had made him feel not alone.
    Perhaps it was best that the temptation of her proximity would be removed. After all, she would remember everything one day, he reminded himself. A cold chill passed over him despite the heat from the late-afternoon sun. One day soon she would remember everything. As surely as the seasons changed, one day soon her expression of longing would turn to contempt.
    Squinting his eyes, he caught sight of her Honda as it rounded the curve. He breathed a sigh of relief.“At least she didn’t hurt herself,” he muttered to himself.
    She pulled to a stop a slight distance away and got out of the car and waved. “Look, Ma,” she said in a joking tone, “I got wheels.”
    Dylan nodded. “So I see. You decided to ignore doctor’s orders.”
    She nodded cheerfully as she walked toward him. “I did. What can I say? I’ve been such a good girl. This halo’s getting too tight for my head.”
    His lips twitched at the same time he felt a tug of arousal. If ever a woman was both angel and bad girl, it was Alisa. He glanced at his watch. “I hesitate to ask where you went.”
    She climbed the steps and stopped in front of him. “Granger’s and a couple other places.” She studied his face. “I didn’t do anything you wouldn’t have done a week ago.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “How long would you have followed doctor’s orders if it meant you couldn’t drive?”
    Hell, he would’ve driven home from the hospital. “Not long,” he conceded. “But I’m not a girl.”
    She blinked at him, then shook her head in disbelief. “You’re not really going to be sexist about this, are you?”
    He sighed. “It’s not sexist.